Her Birthday
by Elfprinzess
Summary: The Doctor is acting moody as Martha visits so Donna and Martha discuss why. The TARDIS decides to help and shows them videos of why the Doctor is moody and everything makes a lot more sense for hte human companions. COMPLETE


**Author's Note: This is just a bit of nonsense that got into my head and refused to leave. Hopefully this will help me get over my writers' block...for all of those who are waiting for any of my other stories, I am sooooooo sorry, I can't seem to write.**

**Donna and Martha find out about Rose and wants to help the Doctor deal with his loss.**

**I do not own Doctor Who.**

**Please review. This could be continued if enough interest is shown, otherwise it will stay a one shot.**

**I know it is cheesy. But I don't care cause I had to get it out of my head.**

Donna stared down at the table, glaring at it as if it hid the answers she was looking for. A blue mug was placed in the middle of her vision, on the table and she looked up, startled.

"You looked like you could use a cup." Martha said, smiling at her.

"Thanks." Donna said, cradling the cup with her hands.

The pair were sitting in the TARDIS kitchen, catching up while the Doctor repaired something of the TARDIS in modern day London. He had been vague about it and practically shoved Donna and Martha out of the control room right as Martha had stepped into the TARDIS, barely saying hello to her. Donna sighed and sipped her tea, barely feeling it scold her tongue.

"What's wrong then?" Martha asked, watching her friend with concern.

"What?" Donna asked, blinking as if coming out of a daze.

"What's wrong? You are glaring at the table like it killed your puppy." Martha commented.

Donna looked thoughtful for a moment then said carefully, thinking her words through before saying them, "Do you think the Doctor's been acting, a bit, off almost? Depressed?"

"How would I know? He said one word to me." Martha pointed out, thinking through what she had seen of the Doctor to see if he matched what Donna was saying.

"Exactly. Normally he would've been bouncing off the walls telling you anything about everything we've done since we last saw you." Donna paused then said, "He's been different for about a week now. He is hyper and all but the moment he thinks no-one is looking, he is quiet and withdraws from the world and is almost _old_." Donna sighed again, this time Martha felt like sighing with her. "I'm worried about him. And he wont talk to me, I have no idea what to do. "Donna confessed to Martha.

Martha made an agreeing noise and went to speak right as the TARDIS chinned and the kitchen door opened. Donna and Martha looked at each other before they both got up and walked out into the hallway. Another door was open, in fact the only door in the hallway, which Martha pointed out, "that wasn't there before."

"I guess the TARDIS wants to show us something." Donna said, shrugging. She pushed the door open wider and went in. In the room was a huge screen and a couch sitting in front of it. Donna sat down first, Martha following after she had shut the door. "What now?" Donna mused out loud as nothing happened.

Moments later, the lights turned off and the screen came on. Slightly off centered was a blonde woman who looked barely older than 18. "Hey Doctor!" She called out, her smile growing, making the whole screen almost glow. She had the sort of smile that made anyone and everyone smile back. "OK. So, Jack and I -" she started to say.

The camera went blurry as whoever was holding it spun it around first and suddenly a very young Captain Jack Harkness came on camera, waving and smiling upside down. Then he spun the camera back on the blonde girl.

"Anyway, like I was saying." the blonde girl said, glaring over the camera at Jack. "jack and I decided that we would make ya this recording so next time you get all moody at us stupid apes, you can remember that not all of us are bad. Just Jack."

"Hey!" came his protest.

"Oh, shut up!" the woman said, grinning at him with her tongue sticking out of her teeth ever so slightly.

Donna and Martha had to smile at the ease Jack and the mystery woman bickered with each other.

"SO. First of all. Um." Blondie paused and thought about it before grinning and saying, "I dunno, but hopefully now you are grinning at my stupidity and I've made ya happy. Bye Doctor!"

The screen went black and Donna frowned. "If that was meant to answer my question about the Doctor, it didn't help much. It just gave me new questions."

"Same." Martha said, as the screen lit up again.

"Doctor." Blondie said, smiling at the screen. She seemed older now, with longer hair and less innocence. She frowned for a moment then said, "You rattle on and on and on. And you're so hyper and child-like and happy. So different to before. Yet you will do something that he would do exactly. You say something or hold my hand and I get an image of a battered leather coat and big ears and I hear a northern accent then I blink and it's you. And now that I think about it, I don't think him and you, you're both the Doctor. My Doctor." She smiled then opened her mouth to say something but a familiar voice called out.

"Rose! Where are you? The TARDIS has landed. You remember when I told you about Barcelona the planet? Well that's not where the TARDIS landed but we are at -" the Doctor said as his voice was cut off when Rose turned the camera off and the screen went black.

There was silence for a moment then Martha said, "So that's Rose. I always thought she was a well-bred, good person, real lady-like behaviour. Not a woman just older than a teenager, practically my age, who speaks with a Londoner accent, wears jeans and slouches."

"The way the Doctor described her, she could've been the queen." Donna added to Martha's spiel. "I like her."

"Me too, surprisingly. I always hared her in my head. She was the reason the Doctor didn't look at me. Seeing her mow makes her, almost, ..." Martha trailed off, looking for the right word.

"Human. He paints her as perfect, brilliant and beautiful. You can hear it in his voice." Donna finished for her. "And she could've been perfect and brilliant. She's beautiful. But seeing her finally puts a face to her, she looks like someone who could've been your next door neighbour."

"No wonder the Doctor misses her. She looked so caring." Martha commented.

The TARDIS showed another video, this one of the inside of a bedroom. The room had pink walls and white carpet. There were clothes both dirty and clean on the floor, and the desk was covered with bits and bobs. The bed in the middle of the room had pink and purple blankets with huge pillows. In the center of the bed was a mound that looked like a person cocooned in blankets and cushioned by 5 different pillows. The door swung open and the Doctor marched in singing at the top of his voice, "Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to Rose! Happy Birthday to you!" The only response from the mound in the bed was a groan. "Come one Rose! It's your birthday! You're the one who was excited yesterday."

"But that was yesterday. I'm sleeping now." came her muffled voice from under everything.

"Not anymore!" the Doctor yelled, pulling the blankets off of her.

She shrieked and sat up as the cold air hit her arms and legs. "Doctor! That's cold!" she yelped, grabbing a pillow and swinging it at him.

He ducked and grabbed a pillow, yelling, "Pillow fight!"

Donna shook her head at his child-like behaviour and Martha laughed as the sounds of the Doctor's and Rose's laughter filled the room and feathers flew everywhere. "I've never seen him like that." Martha said. "I mean he has laughed and smiled and been happy. But he is so carefree and bubbly there."

"I know." Donna said, as the recording stopped and another came on.

It was Rose again, this time she was dressed in jeans and a faded blue top. She was in the library, alone. "Hi. My name is Rose Tyler. If you're watching this then that means the TARDIS is showing you this video cause you are now traveling with the Doctor. I travel with the Doctor now, for you that will be his past. I dunno if he has regenerated yet, or he is still the man that is really skinny and has some really great hair or he is different. Oh, if you don't know what regeneration is, ask him. Now. Don't let him explain it as it is happening as it will freak the hell out of you." She paused and seemed to gather her thoughts together. "Being the Doctor's companion, or whatever you wanna call it, isn't just running away from monsters with him and seeing all the great things in the universe past, present and future. It is also about looking after the Doctor. He needs someone to hold his hand and help him. He saves planets, people, everyone and everything. He doesn't ever ask for anything in return. And he wont ever admit it, but he needs someone's hand to hold, he needs someone to save him. And that's our job. Now, I know what you're thinking. Who am I to appear and tell you what to do. I used to be like that, I used to think me and him had something special. And we do. But he will also have had special things with others, each unique in their own way. And he will meet someone else, like you, and travel with them. And I'm OK with that because I don't want him to be alone. I want him to have a hand to hold. So thanks. Just, don't give up on him. He is gonna go on about him being superior to your race, and he is gonna go on a sugar high at 3 in the morning, he is gonna keep secrets and get angry and go all Oncoming Storm on you and there will be monsters. There will always be the monsters. You can't have the Doctor without the monsters. But he is worth it. He is so worth it. So look after him." Rose gave a small smile then turned the camera off.

"She really loved him." Martha said, seeing it in Rose's eyes as she said her monologue.

"She knew we would never have forever." the Doctor said from the doorway, making the two friends jump. "Yes I was listening. And no, Rose didn't mean for me to hear that recording. But I was listening when she recorded it." he added before Donna asked questions.

"Doctor. What happened?" Donna sad instead. "It'll help to talk about it."

"I failed her. That's what happened." the Doctor said.

Tell us about it." Donna urged him gently.

""We slipped through a gap in the void. The space between parallel worlds. The dead stuff. We landed on a parallel world where Rose's dad was still alive and married to her mum. But they hadn't had any kids. Rose didn't exist there. The human population were being brainwashed by a man who cut out their brains and put them into a suit of metal and made an army out of them. Cybermen. We managed to stop them and then left that world and came back and I shut the void. At least, I thought so. The cybermen found a way across and started forcing their way into this world. Torchwood helped them by having 'ghost shifts'." The Doctor explained. He then explained, "it would be easier to show you."

The screen in front of them flickered and turned on. Donna and Martha watched as the Daleks came up and Rose stopped them from killing her and the other man with her. They watched as the Doctor rescued her from the Daleks with the Cybermen and then got upstairs to the top floor. They watched as the Doctor figured it out with those ridiculous 3-D glasses on and Rose realised they would all be sucked in. they watched as the Doctor made her jump to the parallel world.

"You sent her to the parallel world?" Donna asked, shocked.

"Just watch. She comes back." he whispered, staring at the screen in longing to be with Rose again.

Donna and Martha watched as Rose jumped back and the pair turned the levers on and held on, the pull getting stronger. They watched as Rose's lever fell and she let go to get it upright. They watched in horror as she slipped from the lever and her dad jump across, grab her and jump back with her. They watched as the Doctor walked up to the white wall after the void shut and lent against it, his pain showing clearly in his face.

Martha was trying to figure out what to say as Donna got up and hugged the Doctor. She then pulled away and lifted his chin up so he was looking in her eyes. "That was not your fault. You did everything you could and couldn't do anything different. And I reckon, even though you have told us that it is impossible for her to come back, if there is a way, Rose will find it and come back, no matter what. I have never even met her and I can tell that. She will never give up to get back to you. And she may not make it back, she would want you to remember her with happiness not with pain and to lock up all memories of her and ignore them."

"Thanks Donna, Martha. It was her birthday today." the Doctor said.

His withdrawn mood suddenly made sense and Martha placed a hand on his shoulder and told him, "She is with her mum and dad. She is probably out partying the night away wishing she was with you. She would want you to be happy on her birthday at the very least. And besides, she isn't alone in that world. And you aren't alone here."


End file.
